Whether the State can loose and bind In Heaven as well as on Earth: If it be wiser to kill mankind Before or after the birth– These are matters of high concern Where State-kept schoolmen are; But Holy State (we have lived to learn) Endeth in Holy War. Whether The People be led by the […]

When Julius Fabricius, Sub-Prefect of the Weald, In the days of Diocletian owned our Lower River-field, He called to him Hobdenius–a Briton of the Clay, Saying: ‘What about that River-piece for layin’ in to hay?’ And the aged Hobden answered: ‘I remember as a lad My father told your father that she wanted dreenin’ bad. […]

These were our children who died for our lands: they were dear in our sight. We have only the memory left of their home-treasured sayings and laughter. The price of our loss shall be paid to our hands, not another’s hereafter. Neither the Alien nor Priest shall decide on it. That is our right. But […]

There was darkness under Heaven For an hour’s space– Darkness that we knew was given Us for special grace. Sun and moon and stars were hid, God had left His Throne, When Helen came to me, she did, Helen all alone! Side by side (because our fate Damned us ere our birth) We stole out […]

The Soldier may forget his sword The Sailorman the sea, The Mason may forget the Word And the Priest his litany: The maid may forget both jewel and gem, And the bride her wedding-dress– But the Jew shall forget Jerusalem Ere we forget the Press! Who once hath stood through the loaded hour Ere, roaring […]

Until thy feet have trod the Road Advise not wayside folk, Nor till thy back has borne the Load Break in upon the Broke. Chase not with undesired largesse Of sympathy the heart Which, knowing her own bitterness, Presumes to dwell apart. Employ not that glad hand to raise The God-forgotten head To Heaven, and […]

‘Blessed be the English and all their ways and works. Cursed be the Infidels, Hereticks, and Turks!’ ‘Amen,’ quo’ Jobson, ‘but where I used to lie Was neither Candle, Bell nor Book to curse my brethren by: ‘But a palm-tree in full bearing, bowing down, bowing down, To a surf that drove unsparing at the […]

The Four Archangels, so the legends tell, Raphael, Gabriel, Michael, Azrael, Being first of those to whom the Power was shown, Stood first of all the Host before The Throne, And when the Charges were allotted burst Tumultuous-winged from out the assembly first. Zeal was their spur that bade them strictly heed Their own high […]

If any God should say “I will restore The world her yesterday Whole as before My Judgment blasted it”–who would not lift Heart, eye, and hand in passion o’er the gift? If any God should will To wipe from mind The memory of this ill Which is mankind In soul and substance now–who would not […]

HORACE, Bk. V. Ode 3 There are whose study is of smells, And to attentive schools rehearse How something mixed with something else Makes something worse. Some cultivate in broths impure The clients of our body–these, Increasing without Venus, cure, Or cause, disease. Others the heated wheel extol, And all its offspring, whose concern Is […]

The rain it rains without a stay In the hills above us, in the hills; And presently the floods break way Whose strength is in the hills. The trees they suck from every cloud, The valley brooks they roar aloud– Bank-high for the lowlands, lowlands, Lowlands under the hills! The first wood down is sere […]

When all the world would have a matter hid, Since Truth is seldom friend to any crowd, Men write in fable, as old AEsop did, Jesting at that which none will name aloud. And this they needs must do, or it will fall Unless they please they are not heard at all. When desperate Folly […]

I was Lord of Cities very sumptuously builded. Seven roaring Cities paid me tribute from afar. Ivory their outposts were–the guardrooms of them gilded, And garrisoned with Amazons invincible in war. All the world went softly when it walked before my Cities– Neither King nor Army vexed my peoples at their toil. Never horse nor […]

It was not part of their blood, It came to them very late With long arrears to make good, When the English began to hate. They were not easily moved, They were icy willing to wait Till every count should be proved, Ere the English began to hate. Their voices were even and low, Their […]

And if ye doubt the tale I tell, Steer through the South Pacific swell; Go where the branching coral hives Unending strife of endless lives, Where, leagued about the ‘wildered boat, The rainbow jellies fill and float; And, lilting where the laver lingers, The starfish trips on all her fingers; Where, ‘neath his myriad spines […]

Seven Watchmen sitting in a tower, Watching what had come upon mankind, Showed the Man the Glory and the Power, And bade him shape the Kingdom to his mind. ‘All things on Earth your will shall win you’ (‘Twas so their counsel ran) ‘But the Kingdom?the Kingdom is within you,’ Said the Man’s own mind […]

1902 (When Germany proposed that England should help her in a naval demonstration to collect debts from Venezuela.) The banked oars fell an hundred strong, And backed and threshed and ground, But bitter was the rowers’ song As they brought the war-boat round. They had no heart for the rally and roar That makes the […]

[Written for the gathering of survivors of the Indian Mutiny, Albert Hall, 1907.] To-day, across our fathers’ graves, The astonished years reveal The remnant of that desperate host Which cleansed our East with steel. Hail and farewell! We greet you here, With tears that none will scorn– O Keepers of the House of old, Or […]

JUNE 29, 1911 (‘On the re-assembling of Parliament after the Coronation, the Government have no intention of allowing their followers to vote according to their convictions on the Declaration of London, but insist on a strictly party vote’–Daily Papers.) We were all one heart and one race When the Abbey trumpets blew. For a moment’s […]

1912 (‘Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works; their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.’–Isaiah lix 6) The dark eleventh hour Draws on and sees us sold To every evil power We fought against of old. Rebellion, rapine, hate, Oppression, […]